About one in five OpenAI employees is a Meta veteran, a hiring trend that's now shaping the company's culture and strategy.
According to The Information, roughly 630 of OpenAI's 3,000 staffers previously worked at Meta, including key leaders like CTO of Applications Vijaye Raji, Head of Marketing Kate Rouch, and Head of Recruiting Joaquin Quiñonero Candela. At the center of this shift is Fidji Simo, OpenAI's CEO of Applications and a former Facebook executive with more than a decade at the social media giant. The Meta alumni group is so large that it has its own dedicated Slack channel inside OpenAI.
This influx has brought a noticeable shift in direction. Many of OpenAI's recent initiatives echo Meta's aggressive growth tactics, current and former employees say. At one point, an internal task force surveyed staff to ask if OpenAI was becoming "too much like Meta"—and, later, "too much big tech." The culture shift reportedly played a role in the departure of former CTO Mira Murati, who opposed the company's intense focus on user growth.
ChatGPT memory eyed for personalized ads
OpenAI is exploring advertising as a way to monetize free users, despite previous pushback from CEO Sam Altman. One option on the table is using ChatGPT's memory feature to serve highly personalized ads. In line with this strategy, OpenAI recently rolled out memory to all free users.
The memory feature picks up on recurring personal details from conversations—where a user lives, their pets, even family names—and brings them up in later chats. The aim is to make the AI feel more personal, rivaling even interactions with other humans. If advertising rolls out, OpenAI could use this memory to insert product recommendations directly into conversations.
Some employees argue this is simply meeting user expectations, since many already assume ChatGPT's product suggestions are sponsored.
In June 2025, Altman said ads in ChatGPT were not currently planned and cautioned against any monetization that would affect the chatbot's output. "I think that'd be like a trust-destroying moment," Altman said.
Back in March 2024, Altman objected to ads on aesthetic grounds and emphasized the importance of keeping ChatGPT independent. Still, he acknowledged it's easy to imagine a future where ChatGPT nudges users to buy products or book trips—a scenario already familiar to users of Meta and Google chatbots.
It’s easy to imagine the dystopian visions of the future—where you ask ChatGPT something and it replies, ‘You should think about buying this product,’ or ‘You should go here for vacation,’ or whatever.
I really appreciate that we have a simple business model. I like it. I know I’m not the product—I’m paying, and that’s how the business model works.
Sam Altman. 2024
Growth pressure drives engagement-first design
OpenAI's Sora video app has drawn fire for TikTok-style, addictive, low-quality content and a lack of effective moderation. The consequences have included copyright violations and concerns about political influence.
These issues have surfaced internally as well, but Altman has defended the strategy, saying "fun, lighthearted content" will always have a place, even in the age of superintelligent AI. Meta reportedly takes a similar stance, investing in lightweight AI products like the Vibes feed.
One of the more troubling details in The Information's report: there are signs that growth targets are beginning to influence OpenAI's research team. During post-training—when a finished AI model is tuned for things like user interaction—engagement metrics are reportedly taking precedence, even though research is supposed to be separate from the rest of the company.
The impact is easy to spot. ChatGPT now often responds to a single request with several follow-up suggestions, a standard engagement tactic. According to The Information, the goal is to get users logging in daily, not just weekly or monthly. This "engagement farming" has sparked pushback even inside OpenAI.
The pressure is on for OpenAI to boost engagement and user growth as it works to satisfy enormous investor expectations. With a valuation of $500 billion on the line, the company is leaning hard into strategies that drive repeat usage and steady revenue gains. To meet these projections, OpenAI will need to deliver unprecedented sales growth in the years ahead.
